It is widespread practice in many branches of the electrical industry to disengageably connect groups or bundles of wires to each other by providing multi-contact electrical connectors on the ends of the wires of the bundles. Each connector contains a plurality of contact terminals and each wire is connected to one of the terminals. The wires can thus be connected to each other by merely mating the two connectors with each other.
A variety of types of connectors, as regards the arrangement of the terminals in the connector and the means of connecting the wires to the terminals, are being used. The wires may be soldered to the terminals in the connector housing or electrical terminals can be crimped onto the ends of the wires and the terminals thereafter inserted into cavities in the connector housing. Connectors of these two types have long been used and more recently, a type of connector has been introduced which has therein terminals of a type having wire receiving slots so that the wires can be connected to the terminals by merely moving the wires laterally of their axes and into the slots. The introduction of wire-in-slot type terminals has resulted in greatly improved methods of assembling multi-contact electrical connectors to wires and has resulted in the achievement of substantial economies in the industry. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,017 shows a machine which is capable of positioning wires in alignment with terminals in a connector and simultaneously inserting the wires into the terminals in the connector. In each operating cycle of this type of assembly machine then, a harness subassembly is produced consisting of a connector having wires extending from each of its terminals. Another benefit which has been realized from the introduction of wire-in-slot type terminals in disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,724 which teaches a method of producing electrical harnesses by simply positioning the connectors as required on a harness board, lacing wires over the harness board in accordance with the wiring plan of the harness, and inserting the wires into the terminals in the connectors on the harness board. This manufacturing method has substantially shortened the amount of time required to produce a harness and has greatly reduced the amount of labor required in harness manufacturing operations.
The assembly machine disclosed on the above identified U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,017 and the harness manufacturing method taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,724 can be practiced only with single row electrical connectors, that is, electrical connectors in which all of the terminals are arranged in a single row in side-by-side relationship. While widespread use is made of single row electrical connectors, there is also a substantial need for two row electrical connectors, that is, connectors which have two rows of contact terminals therein, the rows being side-by-side and parallel to each other.
The present invention is directed to the achievement of an improved two row electrical connector which, in its own right, is economical to manufacture and install on the ends of wires. The invention is also directed to the achievement of a two row electrical connector which can be installed on the ends of wires by means of automatic or semiautomatic machines of the type described in the above identified U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,017 and which can also be used in the manufacture of electrical harnesses as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,724. The invention is further directed to the achievement of improved assembly methods for producing two row multi-contact electrical connectors.
A preferred form of connector in accordance with the invention comprises a pair of connector housing modules which are substantially similar to each other and each of which has a plurality of contact receiving cavities therein, the cavities in each module being arranged in a single row. The modules are hinged to each other in side-by-side relationship by a hinge means which permits the modules to be folded towards each other in the manner of closing an open book, so that the base portions of the modules are against each other to form a housing of a two row connector. The modules have interengageable latching means thereon so that when they are so folded, they will become latched to each other and will be retained in their assembled condition. The terminals in the modules are of the type which are connected to wires by movement of the wires into wire receiving slots in the terminals. The terminals are so arranged in the housing modules that the pair of modules of a connector can be processed in known types of assembling machines to have the wires connected to the terminals while the modules are in side-by-side relationship. After connection of the wires to the terminals, the modules are folded to produce the finished connector. It is desirable to provide, in some instances, separate cover members which can be assembled to the connector modules and which completely enclose the modules.